The Griffin, The Phoenix, and The Dragon
by Luigisgirlfriend
Summary: Three heroes. A ray gun. A winged girl. What happens when you add all that up? Lots of interesting things! :D *Credit to Sierra for cover image*
1. Chapter 1

**Me- … :3 I researched a TON to get this story STARTED. **

**Mr. L- … Why? **

**Me- You'll see. **

**Mr. L- … 'K… *Gasps* SAM. **

**Me- What? .o.O. **

**Mr. L- FINISH YOUR OTHER STORIES! DX **

**Me- I'm working on them. I mean, writing more stories helps me finish other ones. **

**Mr. L- How?**

**Me- Inspiration. ANYways, does anyone besides ME IS A BUNNY, Fezzes64, and Blossom the Cellist read the Role Play section on my profile? Well, I have WRITER'S BLOCK for it -_-**

**Mr. L- *ROTFL* Really?! XD XD **

**Me- SHUT UP. Anyways… Uh… R&R!**

"Can't Peach stay out of trouble for once? Just once?" Mr. L whined. Mario and Luigi exchanged a glance and sighed.

"I guess not," Luigi mumbled. The three of them stood in front of Bowser's Castle. As you can guess, Princess Peach had been kidnapped.

"Can we just go in and stop waiting?" Samantha asked. Yes, she was there too.

"Yes," Mario gave a curt nod. He didn't at all approve of Samantha joining them on their rescue mission.

"C'mon then!" Samantha flew in ahead of them. The three boys ran in after her. The sight that met their eyes was… Disturbing. There was…

… Nothing.

The halls were completely empty. Samantha landed on a defunct bullet bill launcher and scouted the area.

"Wow, there's… Not anything here…" She flew back down and landed next to Mr. L.

"That's… Odd…" Luigi stated the others' thoughts. They nodded in assent.

"I guess… We should get going," Mario led L, Sam, and Luigi down hall after empty hall. The silence unnerved them all, even Mario. Even the rooms were vacant; no minions anywhere. Finally, the group came to the throne room doors.

Samantha stepped forward and pushed the doors open. The throne room, like all the other placed, was empty. The four heroes stepped cautiously. As soon as all of them were in the room, Samantha's wings twitched.

"Look out!" Sam cried before shoving the three boys out of the way. A cage fell on top of Samantha, imprisoning her inside the bars. An evil laugh resounded through the room.

"Wow, you guys totally fell for that one!" Bowser stepped out of the shadows. Two Koopa guards also stepped out, guarding a rope-bound Princess Peach. Mario growled, assuming a battle position as Mr. L ran to the side of the cage to free Samantha. Luigi joined Mario.

"Let the princess go!" Mario yelled.

"You think that's gonna work? Asking me? Well, you're wrong," Bowser snickered. Mr. L looked at Samantha, who was entirely calm even though she was still trapped, and then snarled at Bowser.

"Let Samantha go too!" He demanded. Bowser laughed evilly.

"I was planning to."

That made the trio of boys freeze.

"You… You were?" Luigi asked skeptically.

"Yeah, she's too weak. The ray gun would just kill her," Bowser pulled out a fancy looking gun. It was golden with green interlaced in it.

"Hey! I'm not weak!" Samantha finally caught onto what the Koopa king had said and growled.

"Would you like to test your theory?" Bowser asked, pointing the gun at Samantha.

"No!" Mario stepped in front of Samantha. "Don't." Bowser chuckled coldly.

"That's what I thought," He twirled the gun in his hands. "Boos! Take care of the girl." At that moment, three boos appeared inside Samantha's cage. Sam stared at them with little interest.

"Boos? Really? Boos are so lame," She yawned mockingly. Faster than Samantha could react, two of the boos grabbed Samantha's arms and pinned them behind her back. The other boo floated up and smirked at Samantha before slamming his stubby arm on the side of Samantha's head.

The boos let go of the winged teen and she slumped to the ground, unconscious. Mr. L and Mario both lunged at Bowser. Bowser simply fired the ray gun. He shot Mario first, and then Mr. L. Last, he shot Luigi.

The trio fell to the ground, clutching their chests. Peach cried out from where she was standing.

"What did you do?!" She yelled at Bowser.

"Wait and see," Bowser replied with a strange smile. Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, and Mr. L were experiencing an excruciating pain that spread through their entire body. Luigi, arguably the weakest of them, sobbed loudly and writhed and clawed uselessly at the ground with his gloved hands. Mr. L bit back screams of pain and tears as he pressed on his chest with both hands, as if that would help ease the pain. Mario swallowed back tears and screams and curses as the pain spread from his chest to all of his limbs and then his head.

Eventually, after several moments of writhing and suffering, the three boys went still, finally losing consciousness. Bowser smiled evilly and then laughed.

"Perfect."

**Me- *Asleep* **

**Mr. L- … Samantha… Samantha, wake up… Eh, whatever. Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed! Can you, uh, guess what's gonna happen? :3 Probably, because, y'know, it's in the description… So… Yeah… Please review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Me- … I'm so proud of myself. **

**Mr. L- …? **

**Me- Yeah, that's right *Slips on sunglasses* I finished more than one chapter in a day. **

**Mr. L- *Laughs***

**Me- What's so funny? -_-**

**Mr. L- … Why so serious? **

**Me- … The Joker scares me… **

**Mr. L- … Ditto…**

**Me- … R&R!**

Mario slowly came to from his state of unconsciousness. Squinting his eyes open, the plumber looked around. He was in what appeared to be a forest, or a jungle, or both. He was lying on his side. And he felt so… Different. And then, everything that had happened rushed back to him.

Mario took a few moments to absorb the memory, and then he looked at himself. What he saw was quite a shock.

Instead of the human body that he usually had, he had the body of a lion. A light brown lion body. And wings. Large, feathery, gray wings. His neck was covered with the same feathers that made up his wings. He looked at his hands, er, claws. He had eagle feet for his front hands, and the scales of the feet stretched up his entire limbs. His back legs had lion paws.

Startled, Mario leapt to his four feet. With more speed than he had ever possessed, he ran through the forest as fast as he could until he came to a lake. Mario looked at his reflection in the cool clear water.

Like his body, his head had changed as well. An eagle head was perched on his shoulder with horse ears on top. The only thing that hadn't changed was his eyes. His eyes were still crystal blue, although his pupils were now only slits.

Mario stared at his reflection for a long time. Then, a disturbance in the water attracted his attention. A foolish fish flashed its silver tail above the water. Acting on instinct, Mario speared the fish with one of his new talons. The fish flopped around a couple times before bleeding out. Mario popped the fish into his mouth and then licked his beak.

He took another look at his reflection. He stood at a height of about six and a half feet. He spread out his new wings and looked at them. After a couple moments, Mario flapped his wings and took to the sky. He looked around at the treetops and then took off in a random direction. The only thought on his mind was finding Mr. L, Luigi, Peach, and Samantha. Maybe if he could get out of the forest, he could-

_**SLAM! **_

Mario collided with another flying figure. Both of them let out startled cries and then plunged to the ground. Thankfully, neither had been very high above the short treetops, so they landed safely. Mario stood up and shook himself off. Then, he glanced at the person he had collided with.

Samantha groaned and sat up, rubbing her head. She stood up and looked over at Mario. Both of them froze. Slowly, Samantha got into a battle stance.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you. I'm just trying to find my friends," She explained uncertainly. Mario took a step towards her and tried to speak. However, Samantha didn't speak Griffin. She tilted her head.

"Huh?" She questioned. Mario sighed mentally and then lunged at Samantha. He easily overpowered her and pinned her to the ground, careful not to hurt her. Samantha whimpered. Mario made a soft cooing noise and forced her to stare into his eyes. Gradually, recognition and understanding registered on the winged teenager's face.

"Mario…" Samantha whispered. Mario closed his eyes and nodded. He felt Samantha stroking the feathers on his neck and opened his eyes again. Mario got off of Samantha and sat down on his haunches, letting the bewildered girl examine him.

"Wow… You're a Griffin…" Samantha whispered airily. Mario looked at her. There was a small dribble of blood running from where the boo had hit her, but other than that, she was fine. Mario raised one of his talons and gently wiped away the blood with the back of his claw.

Samantha tensed at his touch, and then she relaxed. Mario stood up again, towering about a foot and a half over Samantha. Samantha took no notice in his height. She was glancing around.

"Where are we?" She asked. Mario looked around as well. The place was completely unfamiliar. After several moments, Samantha gasped, and then groaned.

"Oh no… This is the Jungle of Never-ending Skies," She whispered. "You can't fly out of this place. The skies go on forever. You have to walk out of this jungle… Oh no…" Mario bowed his head. He had heard about this jungle. But, before now, it hadn't mattered to him. Now, it was a matter of life and death.

"Well… We'd better get going…" Samantha began to trudge down a path. Mario followed, keeping watch around them. There was no noise. None at all. Not a bird singing, or an insect chirping, not even the wind blowing.

After walking for what seemed like hours, and probably was, Samantha began to tire. After a couple more minutes, she collapsed. Mario was immediately by her side. He softly let out an eagle cry and nuzzled Samantha's face.

"Mmm… I'm tired…" Samantha murmured, her eyes fluttering shut. Mario very gently grabbed Samantha around the midsection with his beak and picked her up. Quickly, he ran about the forest until he stumbled across a cave half-hidden by vines. He took Samantha inside and set her down.

Once they were hidden behind the vines in the large, empty cave, Mario began to examine Samantha. Gently probing around her stomach with his claws, listening to her heartbeat, checking for a fever. After a couple minutes, Mario lay down next to Samantha and looked at her. He concluded that the teenager was suffering from dehydration and a mild fever. To add to that, she hadn't eaten that day either.

"Mario…" Samantha murmured. She reached over to him. Mario nuzzled her hand and allowed her to pet him. After a couple minutes, Samantha fell asleep. Mario kept his beak under Samantha's hand for a few more minutes before standing up. Although he could hardly bear leaving Samantha alone, he knew he had to get water and some kind of food.

So, with a heavy heart, Mario walked out of the cave and began his search for water and food. About a half mile away from the cave, the Griffin came across a lake. Using a bucket shaped leaf, Mario gathered some water and made his way back to the cave. On his way back, he found some blueberries. Using his tail, he pulled the vine out of the ground and went back to the cave.

Samantha was awake when he got back. She was sitting up and glancing around with a panicked look on her face. When Mario came in, her look relaxed.

"I-I thought you left me," Samantha muttered. Mario set down the water and food and then went over to Samantha. With one of his claws, he tilted Sam's face up to his and smiled reassuringly. Samantha unexpectedly threw her arms around Mario's feathered neck. Mario blinked and then wrapped his arms around her. In his arms, the winged girl seemed so small and weak.

Mario let her go and stepped away. He nodded towards the food and water. Samantha looked at it.

"Oh, you got water," She stated. Mario pushed the bowl over to her and then gave her the berries as well. Samantha cupped her hands and drank some water. She ate about five of the berries before crawling back to the back of the cave and curling up. Mario drank some water and then followed Samantha.

Mario lay down next to Samantha. Instinctively, Samantha cuddled into the Griffin's warmth. Mario curled up around her to keep her warm and wrapped his front limbs around her as well. The water had dulled the fever slightly, but only slightly. Despite Mario's warmth, Samantha shivered. Mario spread his wings out and laid one of them over her like a blanket.

The winged teenager sighed sleepily and eventually fell into a fitful slumber. Mario laid his head down next to Samantha's shoulder. In legends, Griffins are said to be guardians of gold and treasure. To Mario, Samantha was the treasure at the moment. He would give his life to save her.

Despite Mario's attempts to keep them open, his eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep. Sometime later (although it couldn't have been more than a couple hours) Mario was woke up. By what? He didn't know.

The Griffin raised his head and looked toward the opening of the cave. Nothing stirred. It took several moments to realize that Samantha had woke him. She was clutching the feathers on Mario's neck and mumbling in her sleep. Mario lowered his head back down and listened to Samantha's fever-induced ramblings.

"No… Don't leave me… I'm so lonely…" Samantha was muttering. Mario debated whether or not to wake the teenager. Finally, he gently grabbed Samantha's hair in his beak and lightly pulled. Samantha's eyes fluttered open. Mario let go of her hair.

"I'm not going to leave you," He said quietly, even though Sam couldn't understand. Samantha stared intently into Mario's eyes and then sighed.

"I wish I could understand what you're saying…" She wrapped her arms around Mario's neck and snuggled into his soft feathers.

"… So do I," Mario whispered, laying his head down again. He made sure that Samantha was comfortable before allowing himself to fall asleep again.

**Me- Aw :3 **

**Mr. L- *At the same time* Ew.**

**Me- HOW DARE YOU- **

**Mr. L- No, no. The fish thing. He ate a raw fish :P Gross. **

**Me- XD Ikr?**

**Mario- *Walks in on all fours and is a Griffin* Haha… Ha. **

**Me- Hi, Mario!**

**Mr. L- Wow… He's a Griffin in the author's notes, too.**

**Mario- Unfortunately. **

**Me- :( **

**Mario- *Winces* (Mentally- Oh no… Now she's sad…) *Bounds over to me, grabs me by the collar of my shirt, and tosses me into the air* *Flaps wings, shoots into the air, and catches me as I fall***

**Me- Whee! :D *Hugs Mario around the neck***

**Mr. L- *Is grinning* (Mentally- I wish they got along like this all the time… I sound like a dad…) *Shivers***

**Me- Do it again, Mario! **

**Mario- *Shakes his head and lands on his four feet***

**Me- Aw… That was fun! **

**Mario- *Sighs mentally and does it again***

**Me- YAY! **

**Mr. L- *Chuckles* Review please, readers!**


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